Thursday, August 11, 2016

Valdez to Whittier paddle - July 2016

July 11 - Jean and I left Anchorage and caught the 10:30 tunnel to Whittier.  She had made ferry reservations to Valdez of few days before. It cost about $120 per person including the kayaks and gear. We had to tag each bag and fuel bottles then carry the boats and gear to the loading area. I parked the car in the long term lot for $115 for two weeks.  The ferry arrived at 11:30 and we started loading around noon.  There was no baggage cart so we hauled all the boats to the car deck then piled all our gear around them.  The staff was very helpful and gave us wheel chalks to support the boats.  The ferry left about 12:45.   It was calm sailing to Valdez. We spent most of the trip in the solarium relaxing in chairs under the heater.  In Valdez we hauled all the gear and boats to the ferry office about 0.1 of a mile away.  By this time it was 7:00. Previously we have used Anadyar Kayaks to haul everything to a kayak landing beach but they were unavailable this evening. The wind was steady 10 to 15 kn with seas from the west.  We did not want to beat into the wind and seas so we opted to stay at the Bear Paw campground which has a kayak landing beach.

Jean got a taxi to take our gear to the campground 0.2 miles away.  The taxis in Valdez do not have kayak racks so I brought along a simple kayak hauler. It is a piece of plywood with an axle and two wheels. I strapped it around the back hatch and hauled the kayak to the campground. I hiked back to the ferry terminal and repeated.  Jean paid the taxi $7 and the campground $25. We had a pleasant evening sitting in the sun watching the rabbits hop around. Valdez has many free range domestic rabbits in town.  After the sun went behind the mountains we walked over to the kayak landing beach the city had recently put in. It has a gravel beach with a treaded path and steps down to it. To get there from the ferry terminal go to the first cross street, across the street to a paved parking lot, and the putting is in the southeast corner of the lot. There is a sign which says kayak launch.

July 12 - The morning was calm and the day sunny. The campsites I mention in this trip report can be downloaded in GPX format for loading in to a GPS from the paddlingmaps.com website.  There is a 14 hour fishing opener today so we ran a gauntlet of fishing boats and nets.  It was calm until 1 PM when a south wind started through the Narrows. We paddled hard into the seas and wind for an hour to a small protected beach with a small tent site which works in these low tide ranges.  We relaxed in the sun then set up camp. The wind stopped by 6 PM. We saw lots of eagles and one otter. There are lots of ripe salmon berries on this beach. We met a kayaker who started at the Columbia glacier and was paddling back to Valdez. About 9 PM our private cove was invaded via fishing boat that anchored and ran a generator all night.

July 13 - It was another calm sunny morning. The boats began fishing at 6 AM. The noise got us up and we had an early start. The paddle through the Narrows was calm but we paddled around lots of fishing boats. We paddle through an oily slick that smell of diesel.  We got to the last beach before Cape Fairweather. It is a huge gravel beach with two streams. That was about 10 miles in 4 hours. We've seen no fish jumping. I tried fishing with no luck. The winds and seas picked up about noon but were not as strong as yesterday. There were houseflies on the beach during the day and blackflies in the evening. We picked ripe salmon berries. We saw two tankers going into Valdez. We saw a sea otter and sea lion plus eagles.

7/14 - A fishing boat anchored off our beach about 10:30 PM. They were quiet with no motors running. Another sunny calm morning. We heard a hummingbird early this morning.  After two hours of paddling we took a break on a nice gravel beach.  There are a handful of nice beaches to Cape Fairweather but all the rest are cobble.  We had 1 foot swells and a light breeze. Saw several sea lions.  We paddled to Elf Point in 3 1/2 hours over 10 miles. This is a great storm campsite but we wanted to enjoy the sun so we camp on a beach with marginal camping that only works in these low tide ranges (less than 11 feet) at the southern end of Heather Island. We dropped our gear and paddled to the north end on the east side of Heather Island. We saw a guided group of nine kayaks. There was no ice on the east side but lots of ice on the western side of the island. We saw many sea otters. Back at camp we had a sunny evening. An otter pup watched us for a while before crying for mom. After a number of longer and louder cries, mom answered then took the kid elsewhere. We saw lots of eagles during the day. Many icebergs marched out of Columbia Bay on the falling tide. A dragonfly patrolled the beach. It must be doing a good job because there are no flies here. There are ripe salmon berries and blueberries at this beach.

7/15 - It was a partly cloudy day. We paddled along the east side of Heather Island. Got water and a little cove north of Emerald Cove. We picked a few blueberries here.  Saw a guided group near the top of Heather Island again. There were many otters as we went along. We then crossed to the east side of Columbia Bay. Google Earth shows the face of the glacier is 11 miles north of Heather Island. We had a light headwind and seas all day long. There were lots of beaches and campsites along the way. We saw a loon and two blue herons which were a surprise.  We passed a group of 7 goats.  We paddled seven hours to the best campsite ever (61 6.498"N by 147 2.726"W) next to the Great Nunatak. I had heard of 30 foot surges from calving from the glacier face. We are on a 50 foot high gravel covered rock with a great beach.  The boats are 20 foot high and tied off incase there is a huge surge.  There is a view to the west of the First Branch Columbia Glacier.  The glacier face is ice choked as is the west side of Columbia Bay.   After we landed a goat walked past the boats. Two porpoise surfaced near camp. We also saw a few seals. This beach also has a stream. A perfect place to camp.

My 1960 topo map shows that at this location the ice is over 1300 feet thick. It is hard to believe that a quarter-mile of ice has disappeared in 70 years. All the beaches on this trip have had lots of bird feathers and bones. Probably from this winters die off of Murres.

7/16 - It was a cloudy calm morning. Goats came through our camp twice in the morning while we were in the tent. Maybe they were curious. The day became partly cloudy and the warm sun felt good in the cold wind. We paddled to the Columbia Glacier. The glacier front is ice choked and we maybe got a mile or more from the face. It is huge but I had nothing to compare it with for scale.  We heard some calving but couldn't see where it was coming from. As we were leaving it rumbled for several minutes then we began to see huge amounts of ice falling and falling. We paddle down the western side of the bay with a following sea and breeze and tide. There was lots of ice to dodge. Many sea otters and pups.  Some of them on the ice.  After 5 1/2 hours we got to the nights camp on an island in Granite Cove.  It was a sunny evening and we saw a heron near camp. Two eagles played in the sky, one flying upside down then they hooked talons and then flew up right.  We picked blueberries for tomorrows breakfast.

7/17 - A clear calm day. We watched two loons in front of our campsite this morning.  A windstorm is forecast so we headed for a protected beach with water to sit out the storm for a day. There were several mature and immature bald eagles at the stream in the back of Useless Bay. They were feeding on salmon.  We also saw a few sea otters as we paddled.  We passed a deer on the beach. It just lay there watching us as we paddled past. I guess it was a fawn waiting for its mother.  We paddle into Long Bay. There are nice beaches along the eastern entrance. We then paddled to the chain of islands south of Schrader Island. We found a suitable beach on the mainland across from Schrader Island.  We had to level the beach to make a flat tent site. There is a salmon stream nearby. Didn't have any luck with the salmon but caught a small rockfish which I released. Finally the fish are jumping. We saw a blue heron later in the day.  We watched two seals successfully fishing in front of our camp tonight. There are lots of gnats here. We found blueberries and salmon berries up the hill from this beach.

7/18 - Another clear calm morning. I was unsuccessful fishing. The guy from the sailboat from across the bay came by. He lives out here year around. He's retired and an interesting character. He invited us over this evening for homemade wine. The wind was still calm by 1 PM so we decided to paddle today. The forecast windstorm just is not materializing. We paddle to a great beach west of Granite Point. It was a very warm sunny day. On the way we met Paul Twardock and a friend paddling to Valdez. They started from Olsen Island and are doing a survey for the forest service. We saw a sea otter and watched a sea lion catch and eat a fish. At Granite Point there will puffins flying to and from the cliffs. I love to see those birds. Tonights beach is beautiful white gravel with no kelp. A great high campsite. And there are some blueberries here.

7/19 - Another clear calm day and it is very warm. This is the second day that I have worn shorts while paddling. Very unusual. After we went to bed last night we heard something walking on the gravel beach. We made some noise in a huge porcupine ran from the beach into the woods. It was the size of a small bear cub. We paddled into Fairmont Bay to get water and saw another porcupine that was climbing down a tree. There was also an eagle's nest on the island.  From there we paddled out to Fairmont Island and saw a large group of curious otters. We paddled to a reef on the outside of the island and saw a bunch of seals with pups. We then went to Little Fairmont Island and saw another large group of curious otters. There were beaches for breaks on both islands. We then went to Olsen Island and camped on the big beach on the southeast corner of the island. We found blueberries and salmon berries again. There was a small spring up a hill behind the beach. We left the fly off the tent last night and tonight because it was so warm and clear.

7/20 - It was a warm night. Today is partly cloudy calm and also warm. Several hummingbirds came to camp in the morning. We went to Kiniklik Bay to get water and saw a black bear on the beach. Usually they run away when they see us but this one walk to the shore, pulled out a dead fish and then lay on the beach to eat  it.  We sat in our boats and watched. We move to the next cove and got water from a low waterfall. As we left we saw a deer on the beach and watched it for a while. We paddled the rocky coast over to East Flank Island. Didn't see any otters or seals. Nor did we see any fish jumping. I was again unsuccessful fishing. We saw a seal and a sea lion though. At bedtime a dear walked across the beach. It was very persistent and was going to cross the beach regardless if we were there or not. When we camped here before there were two fawns on the beach. They stayed very still until their mom swam over to the island and took them into the woods. I'm guessing this deer may have her own fawns on the island. We've seen almost no starfish or jellyfish on this trip which is very unusual.

7/21 - The night was cloudy and warm and the day was calm with showers. There was drizzle often on all morning but when we loaded the boats it rained hard. We paddled through Esther Passage to a nice high beach on the south side of the northern end of Esther Passage.  The high tides are greater than 13 feet and this is a great high campsite.  It also has a stream with no dead salmon for water so we can stay here several days if necessary during the forecast storm.  Saw very few animals today, two otters, one sea lion, two seals, and eagles.  Commercial fishing has wound down so I guess the pinks are no longer running.

7/22 - Today was rainy and calm. We stayed under the tarp or in the tent all day. Got a few blueberries for breakfast. Saw one otter.

7/23 - The rain finally stopped at 6 AM. It is a calm partly cloudy day. We packed up and crossed Wells Passage to the northern entrance of Hobo Bay in one and half hours. There was a light breeze and less than 1 foot seas. Perfect for that long 5 mile crossing. We had breakfast on the beach at Hobo Bay, a nice campsite. A large group of paddlers passed us going north up Wells Passage, at least eight boats mostly doubles. They were at least a mile from shore, which was a mystery to us. It is so boring paddling that far from shore.  We usually are within 100 feet of the shoreline so we can see animals and paddle through reefs.  We then paddled to Entry Cove over the next four hours. It was sunny on the beach with a strong breeze and we got our gear dried. We collected blueberries for breakfast.


7/24 - We got an early start this morning to get ahead of the forecasted bad weather. Small craft advisories in Prince William Sound with 20 knot winds for Passage Canal are forecast with rain. We got packed, ate, and loaded before the rain arrived. We crossed to Decision Point with 2 foot following seas and light wind in an hour. Then a wet but easy paddle to Whittier in 3 1/2 hours, arriving by noon. We unloaded in the rain. Stormy wet weather is forecast for at least the next few days. We were glad to finish our trip with so many sunny days. We covered 150 miles and saw every large mammal in the Sound except whales.  Plus we finally got to see the Columbia Glacier after two previous unsuccessful attempts.  I was surprised at how few kayakers we saw on this trip. We used 60 ounces a white gas in the whisper light stove. We packed enough food for 16 days. Jean never got cell phone reception. We got weather on the VHF radio at all the campsites using a long antenna.

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